Thai riot police used a cheap Chinese tear gas that contained an explosive powerful enough to rip craters in the ground to disperse crowds of anti-government protesters last week, an investigator said.
The investigation by forensics experts and a human rights commission could explain why several protesters had limbs and feet blown off and three died in clashes last week with police, who insist they only fired tear gas into the crowd.
Police used tear gas to clear the streets after protesters attempted to blockade parliament to keep Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from delivering a policy statement. The ensuing clashes injured 478 people — mostly protesters — including 85 who were hospitalized, medical authorities said.
Investigators found that police used three types of tear gas — from China, the US and Spain — but “relied heavily on tear gas made in China,” Pornthip Rojanasunand, director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, said on Monday.
Pornthip said an experiment showed that the Chinese gas contained high levels of RDX — a chemical commonly used to make bombs and not a standard component of tear gas intended for crowd control.
Pornthip’s institute conducted the investigation as part of a probe into the clashes by the National Human Rights Commission.
Tests at a military field over the weekend found that a Chinese-made tear gas canister fired from a shotgun left a crater 8cm wide and 3cm deep, she said, noting that it also “left a hole in a metal pipe.”
One of the three people killed in last Tuesday’s clashes was a 28-year-old woman who had a wound on her chest that was “roughly the same size” as a Chinese-made tear gas canister, Pornthip said.
She said it was too soon to tell if the Chinese tear gas caused the woman’s death but it was “potentially highly damaging” and could “cause death and injuries.”
“The police and military generally use American [tear gas], but it’s expensive — much more expensive,” Pornthip said. “But comparatively, the American [tear gas] is safer.”
The protest alliance said it planned a large demonstration today outside police headquarters to protest alleged police brutality in the clashes.
The protesters regard Somchai as a proxy of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the telecommunications billionaire who was ousted by a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and misuse of power.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including